Colleges in Connecticut Earn Places in National Rankings; Projections Show Sizable Drop in High School Graduates Ahead
/The University of Connecticut earned a slot in the top ten 4-year public higher education institutions in the nation with the best graduation rates, ranking 5th in an analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Data indicated that 72.6% of bachelor’s degree-seeking students within four years.
Among public colleges with doctoral programs and the highest average pay for full professors, UConn ranked 18th in the nation at $159,699, with 542 full professors at the flagship institution, according to the latest data (2020-21) appearing in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Among private nonprofit institutions with Master’s programs, the University of New Haven ranked 8th nationwide, with an average pay of $126, 903 for 37 full professors.
A review of private colleges (with doctoral programs) with the highest admissions selectivity ranked Yale University 4th in the nation, admitting 2,299 students of 35,220 applicants. Yale followed Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton in the ranking, just ahead of Columbia. Yale was also ranked among the universities granting the most research doctorates overall, ranking 35th in the U.S. with 423. In a breakdown by field, the 99 doctorates awarded by Yale in Humanities and the arts was the 5th largest number among U.S. universities.
Among baccalaureate degree granting private institutions, the colleges with the 10 largest enrollments include Middletown-based Wesleyan University, which ranked 10th, with 3,053 students.
Charter Oak State College, part of the Connecticut State College & University System, had among the highest percentages of transfer students as a percentage of total enrollment, at 28.3% (416 transfer students, amidst enrollment of 1,471), based on Fall 2020 data.
Ranked among the most expensive colleges are Wesleyan University (5th among private institutions) and UConn (11th among public institutions) during the 2021-22 academic year.
Highlighting data drawn from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, the Chronicle reported on Educational Attainment in Connecticut. The breakdown:
Below high school diploma 9.1%
High School graduate 26.3%
Some college, no degree 16.8%
Associate degree 7.8%
Bachelor’s degree 22.2%
Master’s degree 13.0%
Doctoral degree 1.7%
Professional degree 3.1%
Overall, 49.7% of the state’s 18-to-24 year olds are enrolled in college, and the projected change in new high school graduates, between 2021-22 and 2031-32 is a drop of 12.2%. That’s nearly equivalent to Rhode Island (12.0%) but more than double the projected decrease in Massachusetts (5.8%) and triple New York’s projected drop (3.8%) in high school graduates a decade from now.
